Indian Railways Falls Short Of Funds For Bullet Train Project, And Twitterati Mercilessly Trolls The Government

India’s first bullet train project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad in 2017. The project aims to reduce the travel time between Ahmedabad and Mumbai from the present 7-8 hours to less than 3 hours. Ever since the idea has been conceived, it is being touted as one of the most ambitious infrastructure project of India by the ruling Modi government.

Time and again, Indians have tried to question the feasibility and the need for such as expensive project. And repeatedly, the government has also made its attempts to justify its stance.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal even took to Quora to publish his answers to questions on the need of bullet train in India. However, now the whole idea of the bullet train appears to be in trouble.

This is because of the whopping cost of the super-ambitious project. As per the latest developments concerning the bullet train project of the Modi government, the railway ministry has fallen short of funds for the project. The finance ministry has asked the railway ministry to borrow funds for the same from the market and not expect any funds from the budget at additional Gross Budgetary Support.

According to the reports, the Railways sought a support of around Rs 18,000 crore, however, after the meetings between the chieftains of the two ministries, Finance Ministry has told the Railways to arrange funds from the market.

This borrowing could mean an escalation in the cost of the project which was until now, being projected to be “as good as free”, all thanks to the cheap loan from Japan. This has led to Twitter erupting with trolling comments for the government for various reasons. You can take a look at these tweets below:

FinMin asks Railways to borrow funds for bullet train and not expect it from Budget. Railways in a fix on where to borrow from and who will service the loan. https://t.co/TazWtQ1i3Y@IndianExpress

1. when is japan who was giving soft loan. 2. if we dont have money, why bullet train is needed, is it public needed or personal ambition 3. how abt that money being spent in education, medical facilities. 4.upgrade existing rail infra

But our state govt says no funds allocated for it. Just give details of completed AIMS hospitals proposed during this 4 years. How many smart cities created and fund allocated? Getting loan from Japan and building bullet train is not development. It’s loan burden on all Indians.

Everyday 100s of students in Ahmedabad take the Bullet train in the morning to attend their college – the JIO Institute in Bombay. The students didn’t need to take an Education loan coz the heavy tuition fees was paid out of the 15L amount they rcvd last year.